Sorry I had to break down and create a new post on this subject…I’ve read all the other posts and none of them provide answers to what seems like should be a very straightforward workflow. I am scanning trees and their surrounding environment. When I take the photos, I place 3 markers level with one another into the environment and take measurements between them. Based on previous workflows with different software, I would import a photogrammetry scan into 3ds max and do the scaling and aligning there based on my measurements of those markers, but Reality Capture seems like it has the tools to do this natively, and I’d much prefer to do it here.
Here’s my process, followed by what isn’t working as expected:
Add imagery Inputs
Process Align Images
Calculate model
Select & Filter out large triangles (would be great if I could just turn off an option for the software to create a “water tight” mesh…I don’t need this functionality and makes me do extra steps)
Process Texture
Create 3 control points in the 3D view (clicking directly on my physical markers)
Define Distance between 2 of those control points*
*this is where the process breaks down. Initially it wouldn’t give me a way to define the distance myself, telling me I needed to edit the suggested points in the 2D photos. (I’m not sure why this is necessary since I can see that the control points are in the right location in the 3D view.) I went ahead and manually moved or created the control points in a bunch of the 2D photos and tried to define the distance again. Defining a distance shows a “calculated distance”, which is obviously not correct. When I type in my known measurement into “Defined distance” and hit Update, I get the following error:
“Updating Constraints (Draft) - Operation Failed. No component with valid ground control constraints found.”
I’m sure I’m just missing a step that isn’t clear. It sure would be nice if this process was more intuitive. The workflow process takes me through each step in an intelligent way, but once I have my model, it would make sense to simply click on my 3 markers to make control points, click on all 3 points to establish my know level, then click from 1 point to another and enter my known distance. Feels like 8 clicks and I’d have a perfectly scaled and oriented scene. But all this finagling is very challenging. I’ll stop the rant for now and just hope someone can chime in with the step of the process I’m missing to be able to update an incorrect “calculated distance” to a correct “defined distance”. Thanks so much!
thanks for this concise post! I didn’t get the feeling you were ranting at all…
Anyway, I can’t see an error in your workflow and it seems to me it could be a bug.
Since you have 3 points and it seems to me like you’ve established a horizontal plane, why not mathematically calculate the 3 coordinates of the points and use them as Ground Control Points? Because the you’d also cover the step of aligning the model to real space, something that doesn’t work with a simple constraint of length.
Selecting the Control Points in 3D view is actually a still fairly new introduction. Before, you had to do it in each image individually. This way has pros and cons (like everything) and many older users don’t like the 3D placement very much. Also, the points that you then see in 2D images are only suggestions (black) that need to be confirmed by the operator (they turn blue once you grabbed them). The reason is that they are only estimations based on the current alignment and might be quite a bit off target. You don’t need to confirm all of them, a handful from different angles is usually enough.
Also, the “challenging” UI is something that has been criticised many times (also by me) and that for now just needs to be accepted. Once you get your head around it, it isn’t that difficult. Most software has it’s own logic, RC is just a bit more different than most.
Do you enter all information manually or you use define distance tool in alignment tab ?
If you click on define distance tool and then on 3d window you can mark each point or create new ones (to do so drag the mouse from one to another point) then type/define the distance and update registration.
Thanks for the comments so far! I took some time to go through the workflow again with this set of photos (since they are very clear and producing good scan results). I imported the images, created 3 control points directly using the photos, then aligned the images. The results looked clean and showed my 3 control points correctly in 3D space. I click “Define Distance” and click-and-drag from point 0 to point 1. It returns a calculated distance of 18.56m. I type 4.7 into the defined distance area and click update and receive the same error as before…“Updating Constraints (draft): Operation failed. No component with valid ground control constraints found.” Is “Update” not the thing I should be clicking to change this value? The error does not make sense to me. It sure seems like I’m just clicking something incorrectly or doing things in the wrong order, because everything seems to be working perfectly until I try to update the calculated distance with the correct one. Any help here would be greatly appreciated!
I just tried it on a model of mine and it works without your error message. However, after using Update, the old distance is still active. BUT my distances are not actually updated and remain the same as before. Maybe there’s a bug?
Hi John,
I have tested all functions of defining distance, and all seems to work properly.
Please check your control points if they are added correctly.
Götz
if you change the value and immediately click Update old value will remain. This is already reported Bug - when you type values in settings you have to confirm them with enter key otherwise RC want take in to account.
Just played around a bit and all of a sudden it was there.
I think it first started when I wanted to update a model where there was a distance without any assigned points.
From then on nothing worked anymore.
Now it get’s realy weird: I started the project new, and this time it NEVER worked. Then I started it again an voila, everything works as it should and I can play around and nothing can cause the error to pop up.
In my view that clearly points to some inconsistency and therefore a bug.
So John, I suggest you try and restart your project a couple of times and see if that works.
The updated distance is still different from my input though…
Well, I reopened the same file I was working on yesterday (that gave me the error). I re-typed 4.7 into the defined distance field, this timing hitting enter on the keyboard instead of the number pad, clicked update, and it worked. Strange. It is showing a distance of 4.75m instead of 4.70 which I specified, but still close enough for what I need. I’ll keep this workflow moving forward and hope it continues to work as expected. Thanks for all your input.
BTW, I know there may be others out there that are struggling with this scaling and alignment workflow, and I know for me it would have been useful to watch a video of the process in action. I’ll see if I can put one together and I’ll share a link here when I do, but folks (including me) might like to see an official how-to video from the RC team. Thanks!
Hi team…I’m back I was running into this issue again, with defined distances not updating correctly. I would create a distance between 2 control points (generated from photos, not directly in the 3D view) by click and drag, then type defined distance on num pad and hit enter on num pad and get the same error (“Operation failed. No component with valid ground control constraints found.”). I then tried typing in the A and B points with the names from my scene, typing in distance, enter…same error. Tried using Enter on the keyboard (not num pad), same error. Then the last one I just did I typed the numbers for the defined distance using the top row of the keyboard (not num pad) then enter on keyboard, and viola!..it worked! Seems like a very strange bug, but I’d be curious if you can reproduce it…that is, getting the error typing with the number pad but not getting it if you use the main keyboard. Anyway, thought I’d contribute this latest experience for scientific rigor
I ran into the same issue, this time, defining a distance in one component worked, and on a second component within the same RC scene, it didn’t.
My work around was:
1 to export the component that was failing just like the post from Gotz,
2 exported the Mesh that I had already generated from that same non scaled component ( I know I should have create the distance before processing the mesh),
3 import the component in a new scene
4 import the singleton mesh created in the previous/ failing scene
use “Define Distance” tool.
Worked.
Exact same steps for defining a distance in one scene vs the other produced different results.
I had exactly the same problem using v1.2.2. I define a distance between 2 control points registered on multiple photos. The calculated distance is not correct even after trying alignment → update. The solution is to save the project, reload it and then alignment → update and then it works ! You really should fix this old problem.
and just hope someone can chime in with the step of the process I’m missing to be able to update an incorrect “calculated distance” to a correct “defined distance”. Thanks so much!